An Observation - Autumn 1959

AN OBSERVATION - Autumn 1959

                                                                                      KENNETH E. HALL          23 July 23, 2012           HOUSTON

"Blue skies smilin' at me ---
Nothin' but blue skies do I see!" ---Blue Skies" - written by Irving Berlin (1926)


WASHINGTON, D.C.


Those days were peaceful and quiet for me. I remember early one morning wandering onto the center of the school field and, instead of playing with the others, sometimes I'd go off by myself for some quiet time alone. I used to go to a quiet, grassy of the schoolyard and remember lying atop a large metal table and gazing upward, thinking.

The sky was blue and clear then; a cool breeze moved the tree leaves a little, and here and there a bird flew from branch to branch. I stared at the azure ceiling above and saw a jet airplane arc high overhead – on its way to some far-flung destination. No doubt it was coming from someplace equally far away. Like some child with a chalk in his hand running along a cyan-colorerd fence – the silver craft left behind a thin white line as a mark of passage, and then continued onward.

Not very long after that, another airplane streaked across the blue heavens – leaving another thin white line as a token of its transcontinental journey. Soon yet another – and again another contrail line was drawn – crisscrossing the firmament like so many giant tic-tac-toe games.

By the time several more lines traversed the sky, the first few had already begun to dissipate – but not truly dissipate – more like spreading out – wider and wider – until the very first streaks covered nearly a quarter of the sky. And more lines came, and more - each eventually flattening out and spreading their darkening vapor over what had been a beautiful monochrome canvas.

By the time afternoon had arrived, the once beautiful sky had turned to a dull grey, with only small patches of blue to remind anybody who was looking of the original color. But nobody was looking – nobody but me. Everyone else was busy hurrying on their way to and from wherever – all busy – all going about their quotidian tasks without the slightest upward glance. They did not see the oncoming darkness being laid out overhead like some ominous cloak.

By evening, the sky was completely overcast – yet not a single cloud had drifted into the area – no weather front had formed – no squall line menaced. Mother Nature was not at work here at all. Not now. Her statement – a clear, blue sky – had been silenced and muzzled and blotted out by the mighty jet engines’ exhaust.

I told my schoolmates what I saw, and they didn’t care. I told the teachers at the school that it was WE, NOT NATURE, that was causing cloudy days. They smiled politely and told me to go play – that of course there are clear days and cloudy days. It was the way of things. It was Nature that controlled these events – not Man.

Once again I glanced upward at the ever-darkening sky. I had just learned what pollution was – and said something – and was ignored. They do that to punk kids like me. Who EVER listens to eight-year-olds anyway?

I remember that beautiful afternoon  when the skies were blue and clear. Nobody could see what I saw, because nobody was looking that day – nobody could see it but me.  There were just Blue Skies. smilin' at me - nothin' but blue skies did I see.